The Endurance of National Constitutions

by Zachary Elkins, Tom Ginsburg, James Melton

Constitutions are supposed to provide an enduring structure for politics. Yet only half live more than nineteen years. Why is it that some constitutions endure while others do not? In The Endurance of National Constitutions, Zachary Elkins, Tom Ginsburg, and James Melton examine the causes of constitutional endurance from an institutional perspective. Supported by an original set of cross-national historical data, theirs is the first comprehensive study of constitutional mortality. They show that whereas constitutions are imperiled by social and political crises, certain aspects of a constitution’s design can lower the risk of death substantially. Thus, to the extent that endurance is desirable – a question that the authors also subject to scrutiny – the decisions of founders take on added importance.

Genres: Politics

272 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2009

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent, but not amazing book. At a very high level, it's essentially a set of regressions on what predicts how long a constitution will last, although the books does a good job setting up the problem (and addressing hairy problems like "what is a constitution, anyways?".

That said, it felt much too long for the amount of information. I suspect this would've been better off as a 30 page paper + 60 page appendix rather than a 250+ page book.

[Steven Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elkins, et al. produces a rather remarkable study that examines the history of national constitutions from the 1780s to the present. The text presents both a theory of constitutions as well as one of constitutional endurance.

The book is one that ought to be in the library of anyone interested in comparative democracy or institutional design.

The text is clearly written and is accessible even to non-political scientists interested in the topic.

[Joseph Jupille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frames up a great question, since constitutions are supposed to be enduring, but not immutable. Basically playing around with a giant dataset they have gathered, exploring questions around endurance. There will be other books using these data, I am sure. I'll see if I can get around to doing a more substantive review at some point.